By Andrew Warshaw
November 28 – Delegates attending this weekend’s 60th anniversary of the Asian Football Confederation have been banned from any political electioneering at the gala celebrations to which all 47 federations have been invited, along with FIFA president Sepp Blatter and a host of other dignatories.
Letters have been sent out to all member associations urging them to “refrain from organising” any dinners or meetings “designed to promote his or her candidacy or election.”
The message seems likely to inflame part the AFC membership, many of whom are expressing discomfort at being told what they can and cannot say and who they can dine with.
While it is unclear to what extent the letters were instigated by AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa’s office, some critics are saying it is an attempt to cement his power base and give the impression that the entire region is in harmony.
Salman’s presidency, which only began in 2013, is up for re-election at an as yet unspecified date next year while as many as six candidates from across the region are likely to contest three Asian places for membership of FIFA’s executive committee.
They include Jordan’s Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein who loses his FIFA vice-presidency next year and Worawi Makudi, one of the five people being investigated by FIFA’s ethics committee over the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding investigation.
With some 400 delegates converging on Manila, where the AFC was founded in 1954, the event represents fertile ground for lobbying ahead of next year’s double election.
It is understood that the South Koreans had organised a lunch for Sunday but this may now have been postponed as a result of the warning shot sent to delegates by Edwin Gastanes, chairman of the AFC’s electoral committee.
The letter, a copy of which has been seen by Insideworldfootball and which could not have come at a more sensitive time given Michael Garcia’s World Cup probe, says that the AFC electoral committee “have been informed that dinners or luncheons or similar events are being planned to be held …by potential candidates.”
It continues: “We wish to inform you that the AFC 60th anniversary event should not be used as a platform for election campaign purposes.”
In recent weeks, Asian football has become embroiled in yet more controversy following the Mohamed bin Hammam era. Nepal’s football association has been accused of “unappropriated cash movements” while one of Asian football’s most senior figures, Mongolian FA president Ganbold Buyannemekh, a member of the AFC executive committee, was banned for five years by FIFA for “soliciting and accepting payments” linked to one of the most damaging corruption scandals to hit the region.
And earlier this week the man responsible in the south Asian region for managing development funds at the time of bin Hammam’s authority, Sri Lanka’s Manilal Fernando, a former FIFA executive committee member and AFC vice-president who was banned after he was found to have violated FIFA’s code of ethics, had his appeal heard at the court of arbitration for sport.
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